Effects of Sjogren's Syndrome on essential hypertension: a two-sample mendelian randomization study.

Background: Sjogren's Syndrome (SS) plays important roles in the development of essential hypertension. Nevertheless, with the limitation of reverse causality and confounder in observational studies, such a relationship remains unclear. We aimed to assess the causal relationship of SS and hypertension by the Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.

Methods: We used MR to investigate a causal association between SS and essential hypertension. Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR Egger regression, Maximum likelihood, Weighted median, and MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier test (MR-PRESSO) were used in this MR analysis.

Results: In this study, we found that the ratio of IVW is 1.00024 (95% CI: 1.00013- 1.00036, P=0.0387), This result was also confirmed by sensitivity analysis methods such as Maximum likelihood is 1.00025 (95% CI: 1.00013-1.00037, P=0.036), MR Egger is 1.00071 (95% CI: 1.00047-1.00095, P=0.0045), and Weighted median is 1.00040 (95% CI: 1.00021- 1.00059, P=0.0322). And MR-Egger intercept method revealed the absence of horizontal pleiotropy in this investigation (P>0.05). The Cochran's Q Test indicated an absence of heterogeneity among them (P>0.05). Heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy tests further demonstrate that the results of MR are relatively stable. The above results all suggest that pSS may promote the risk of hypertension.

Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of a causal relationship of SS and hypertension. It is suggested to pay attention to early screening for hypertension, reduce disability and mortality rates, and improve patient prognosis in patients with SS.